It is a problem in art to provide a bicycle pedal of high pedaling efficiency. An ideal bicycle pedal would efficiently coact with a cyclist's foot with respect to downward forces on the pedal, with respect to upward forces on the pedal as the cyclist lifts his foot, and with respect to forward and backward forces exerted on the pedal by the cyclist's foot. The ideal pedal would further be easy to get into and out of. In other words, it would be easy for the cyclist to engage his foot with the pedal as well as to controllably disengage his foot from the pedal.
Numerous bicycle pedal arrangements are known having varying degrees of pedaling efficiency. A common pedal arrangement is termed the "quill" pedal. The quill pedal is characterized by a main axle section which is attached to a bicycle crank arm and which contains approximately one inch extensions from the axle section to which parallel cage plates are attached at the front and rear of the pedal. In order to utilize the quill pedal, the cyclist simply pushes his foot against the platform formed by the parallel cage plates. However, only limited performance is obtained from the quill pedal since the cyclist can only use a pushing motion of his foot to generate pedal power.
Numerous attempts have been made to increase the performance of the quill pedal. One such modification includes the addition of a toe clip which comprises a thin metal or plastic attachment to the front cage of the pedal. The toe clip is shaped like the toe of a shoe and its function is to prevent a cyclist's shoe from slipping off the pedal during a forward pedaling motion. To enhance the performance of the quill pedal even further, the toe clip has been modified to allow a leather strap and buckle arrangement to go around or through both the pedal and the toe clip to encircle the cyclist's foot on the top of the pedal. The main advantage provided by the toe clip and strap is that it not only enables the cyclist to generate power by pushing his foot forward against the pedal platform, but it also allows an upward force to be exerted by his foot. This increases the cyclist's pedaling efficiency.
In order to improve further upon the pedaling efficiency of the quill pedal, a modification called a "cleat" has been developed. This cleat comprises a small metal or plastic attachment to the cyclist's shoe. The cleat is slotted and is adapted to matingly engage a quill section of the bicycle pedal. The use of the slotted cleat enhances a cyclist's ability over that provided by toe clips and straps since it permits a greater pedaling efficiency to be obtained.
Although the provision of the above mentioned toe clips, straps, and cleats greatly improves a cyclist's pedaling efficiency, it does so at the cost of numerous disadvantages. To be used efficiently, the toe strap must be tightened to such a degree that the removal of the foot is often difficult, if not impossible. Further, the length of the toe strap can be increased only by the cyclist reaching down and adjusting the buckle of the strap. In many situations, such as a sudden stop, the cyclist does not have sufficient time to loosen the strap, remove his foot and place it on the ground. Quite often, the result is that the cyclist falls since he cannot quickly disengage his foot from the strap and the pedal. If the cyclist happens to be using a cleat which fits over the rear quill of the pedal, this further compounds the problem since the rider must not only loosen the strap, but he must also disengage the cleat from the rear cage portion of the pedal.
Problems also exist when the cyclist attempts to insert his foot into the above described pedal arrangements. The cage plates of the quill pedal typically rotate on an axle which is affixed to the crank arm of a bicycle. This being the case, the natural resting position of the pedal, due to gravity, is approximately 180 degrees (upside down) from the position in which the pedal is used when engaged with the cyclist's foot. This upside down position of the pedal, at rest, is due to the weighting of the pedal by the provided toe clips and straps. Thus, in order to insert a shoe into the pedal arrangements, including toe straps and clips, the rider must first manually rotate the pedal right side up, insert his foot into the pedal, and engage the cleat if one is being used. He must then bend over and tighten the strap to obtain an efficient use of the pedal system.
Recent attempts have been made to alter the design of the conventional pedal arrangement above described by making their shape more aerodynamic or lighter. However, for the most part, the dual arrangements have retained a platform for the shoe to rest on, a toe clip, a strap, and a rear cage for a cleat engagement. As a result, recent attempts have not solved the above discussed problems.
One such attempt comprises a pedal system manufactured by Look. This Look system is shown on pages 129 and 145 of the 1987 Buyer's Guide Edition of the publication BICYCLING dated Mar., 1987 and published by Rodale Press Inc. The Look system is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,867 to Bernard et al of 8-18-87. The Look system comprises a somewhat triangular shaped pedal body which revolves about a pedal axis. The top of the Look pedal is recessed at both its front and rear portions. There are protrusions at both the front and rear of the recess in order to hold a shoe cleat. The rear portion of the pedal, which portion also comprises the rear part of the recess, is hinged and tensioned in order to allow this rear portion to rotate backwardly in an arcing manner in order to open it. A triangular cleat-like attachment is connected to the cyclist's shoe and is designed to be inserted into the recess of the pedal body. The cyclist interlocks the shoe cleat with the pedal body by pushing a front portion of the cleat into the front recess of the body and by then pushing down with his heel. This pushing down of the heel opens a back cage comprising the rear recess and allows the rear of the cleat to interlock with the rear recess. The cleat is disengaged from the pedal body by a rotating or twisting motion of cyclist's shoe.
Further attempts have been made to provide improved pedal arrangements. However, all of these attempts have not been successful in achieving the ideal pedal system and they suffer from one or more of the above discussed problems. It can therefore be seen that the presently available bicycle pedal systems do not provide the performance of an ideal pedal system.